Srinagar: A prominent Kashmiri Human Rights activist Khurram Parvez, who is currently in a Delhi jail facing “terrorism and conspiracy” charges, has been chosen among the 100 most influential people of 2022 across the globe under the Leaders category by Time Magazine.
The incarcerated human rights defender found his place under the Leaders category along with India’s Karuna Nundy, a lawyer at Supreme Court, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Khurram Parvez, who serves as chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, was arrested in November of last year. He had to be silenced, for his was a voice that resounded around the globe for his fierce fight against human-rights violations and injustices in the Kashmir region. The arrest came almost a year after India revoked the special status given to Kashmir and detained hundreds who protested in the streets. It was not the first time that Parvez was forcibly silenced. The attacks against him speak volumes of the truth he represents at a time when the world’s largest democracy is being called out for its persecution of the more than 200 million Indian Muslims,” Time Magazine mentions about the Human Rights activist.
“The soft-spoken Khurram is almost a modern-day David who gave a voice to families that lost their children to enforced disappearances, allegedly by the Indian state. Khurram is the story and the storyteller of the insurgency and the betrayal of the people of Kashmir,” the Magazine added.
Pertinently, Pervaz is lodged in jail currently as he faces “terror-funding” and “conspiracy” charges. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India arrested him after raids at his home and office in Srinagar, Kashmir in November last year.
